I was noticing that we had a lot of infielders on that roster. But, note, many of those players on that list are coming over from Dominican leagues or are recent HS draftees from last year that haven't moved up due to their age and only playing a handful of games. Thus, I think other than a few cuts like Aponte who hasn't done anything ... that is lining up to be our roster as our infield down there is stacked with young talent that they haven't moved up like Romero. I think that they wanted to build some sort of community atmosphere as all our Dominican talent other than Ronnie R. are there instead of MV (Lugi, Sterling, Araujo, Castillo, Romero, ....) -- talent that could have gone to MV if needed to make room.

Looks like they update the roster link above overnight. They moved many of the infielders to outfield including Hunter Jones and Juan Romero. Also added Sisco to the pitching line-up. There are only 11 pitchers, so there may be another one added, we will see. But, note there is still more than 25 players, is there an exception in Arizona or are there more cuts to be made or players put on DL?

It's not listed in the MiLB scoreboard but it appears the Baby Tribe won their opening game 4-0 on a combined 2 hit Shut Out by Elvis Araujo & Manuel Carmona with 9K's no walks & 1 HB. When was the last time an org guy named Carmona gave up no hits & no walks? The hitting star was SS Jairo(Gyro) Kelly, who went 3-4 with a double & 1 RBI.

Should we be concerned that Hunter Jones cannot get into the line-up? He was a fairly high pick last year (11th round?) and is approaching his 20th birthday. Aaron Siliga, by comparison is at MV and playing. Siliga was drafted lower and is a year younger.

elrod enchilada wrote:Should we be concerned that Hunter Jones cannot get into the line-up? He was a fairly high pick last year (11th round?) and is approaching his 20th birthday. Aaron Siliga, by comparison is at MV and playing. Siliga was drafted lower and is a year younger.

For what it is worth, both are local kids here and I think most everyone expected Siliga to be a more likely early success. Jones was a SS in HS but not really a SS. He is more of a project as he is changing positions. He has some decent instincts but needs work. He has plus speed and a frame to add weight and muscle. Jones is all about projection now whereas Siliga is more ready to play at MV.

Wow, Juan Romero is an impressive guy with his power and athleticism, and is now being developed as an outfielder.....but damn, learn some plate discipline kid. In 8 games has 14 Ks in 29 at bats. No walks. But still gotta like the power with 5 XBHs.

Any chance Elvis Aruajo gets called up to MV this year? He really is a huge SP prospect that has been derailed by injuries. He has been great so far in his US debut in AZ and is one of the better pitchers in the entire AZ league.

TonyIPI wrote:Wow, Juan Romero is an impressive guy with his power and athleticism, and is now being developed as an outfielder.....but damn, learn some plate discipline kid. In 8 games has 14 Ks in 29 at bats. No walks. But still gotta like the power with 5 XBHs.

I am quite high on Romero pretty much just for his bat... As you said he looks to be one hell of an athlete, so prolly will become a decent OF'er. I like free swingers but he really takes it to the next level and ultimately appears destined to fail.. He cannot take a pitch and once he starts seeing even more filthy off-speed stuff.... Look out Abreu, someone is out to steal your schtick.

But if he can hit 35-40 HR's and hit around 250ish - swing baby swing.

Robert Aviles made his pro debut tonight. This is possibly less than a year after Tommy John surgery, so I take it his rehab is going extremely well. This is a positive development for sure. I said it before, and reiterate it, getting him for $150k or whatever he got was a big time bargain. I'm not quite sure he was quite a 1st round guy (if healthy going into the draft), but he's not all that far from it. Tremendous work by the scout(s) that did the due diligence on Aviles.

Thanks for the update on Elvis, Tony. I think he looks good in the video you posted. If he is throwing low 90s consistently, he looks like a good pitching prospect. Note sure if he's got the ability to consistently pump FB's by good hitters, but he's not all that different from Drew Pomeranz talent and delivery-wise.

I was listening to this weekly Baseball Prospectus podcast with Kevin Goldstein and Jason Parks (covers the Texas Rangers farm system specifically). It's long, but is good background noise while I'm doing other things. I think its funny and is a good listen. On the most recent podcast, Goldstein recalls getting a call from a scout in another country about this guy, Elvis Araujo, saying to watch out for him. He went away with Tommy John, but is back and drawing attention. Parks has a pretty good eye for talent and saw him in Arizona two weeks ago. Said he saw him at 92-95 mph consistently and was as high as 97 (this is similar to Tony's report); gets good sink and arm-side run, too. He said his curveball was very loopy and not spun very well, which would make sense b/c I've seen Araujo's delivery (he's got a tall, Pomeranz-like arm slot) and if someone is throwing that hard from that slot, if you've got a decent off-speed pitch you'd be dominating rookie league ball, but Araujo isn't quite doing that right now. He's been good, but not *that* good. They talked about Araujo for a few minutes and just thought I'd share. It's the most recent podcast on iTunes. If you care you listen, keep in mind these podcasts go about 1.5 to 2.5 hours.

Anyhow, good news on Araujo.

Last edited by OhioBaseball on Sat Jul 23, 2011 3:46 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Leonardo Castillo putting on a pretty good batting show for a kid who just turned 18.

His walk rate is non existent, but based on what he did in the DSL last year the basic ability to read a pitch appears to be in his skill inventory. I'm thinking he may be turning up the aggression a bit to get noticed, and might get a bit more selective if the pitchers start to work him (not always a skill you see much of in the AZL though).

Anyhow, looking at his low strikeout rate along with the decent power, and his really young age, seems to be a guy worth adding to my "follow" list.

Just curious, which, if any, of the position players at Arizona this year make the jump to Lake County in 2012? I assume most head to Mahoning Valley, do a second year at Arizona, or some might even get released.

My sense if the best talents are the middle infield prospects or 3b, but there is a logjam already in A ball for the Tribe at those slots, so MV is likely.

At some point players like Hunter Jones have to start playing in full-season leagues, he is 20 already, or else you just have to wonder if he has a present, not to mention a future.

John Mirabelli drafted both Crowe and Mills. This man may be the most incompetent member of a Cleveland franchise since Ted Stepien. Mirabelli is dumber than a hay rake in evaluating talent. John Hart would have fired him ten years ago but Mark Shapiro gave him a promotion

Troybuildfitess wrote:John Mirabelli drafted both Crowe and Mills. This man may be the most incompetent member of a Cleveland franchise since Ted Stepien. Mirabelli is dumber than a hay rake in evaluating talent. John Hart would have fired him ten years ago but Mark Shapiro gave him a promotion

Mirabelli didn't only do the draft though...

And while his drafts were bad, i think you have blocked out some of those Browns drafts if you think he's the most incompetent member of a Cleveland franchise since Stepien.

Troybuildfitess wrote:John Mirabelli drafted both Crowe and Mills. This man may be the most incompetent member of a Cleveland franchise since Ted Stepien. Mirabelli is dumber than a hay rake in evaluating talent. John Hart would have fired him ten years ago but Mark Shapiro gave him a promotion

Yes his drafts were not very good but his scouting departments sure have done a good job on the trade front.

GradyCliff LeeChooAsdrubalSantana

Just to name a few were acquired during his watch. Nobody will be perfect but acquiring talent like that for what we gave up was very good. He has since been moved off of the draft and replaced by Grant which has been good.

I would not say incompetent. He's done a good job in some areas but yes his drafting history was not successful.

I don't know how popular this will be, but given the lack of strength in the Indians farm system (i don't see many good prospects), I think Elvis araujo is one of the Indians best prospects. His very strong velocities have been confirmed and at 6'7" with a tall, pomeranz-like arm slot, that fastball is probably a very difficult pitch to hit. I understand the offspeed stuff isn't quite there yet, but with his leverage and tall arm slot I think he's got potential for a good offspeed offering whether it's a curve or a change/split or whatever.

I see a lot of talk about dillon Howard and yeah, I agree he's a good prospect but araujo isn't much worse (if any). Araujo is a very nice upside pitching prospect and is one of the best stories going on in the Indians system right now.

OhioBaseball wrote:I don't know how popular this will be, but given the lack of strength in the Indians farm system (i don't see many good prospects), I think Elvis araujo is one of the Indians best prospects. His very strong velocities have been confirmed and at 6'7" with a tall, pomeranz-like arm slot, that fastball is probably a very difficult pitch to hit. I understand the offspeed stuff isn't quite there yet, but with his leverage and tall arm slot I think he's got potential for a good offspeed offering whether it's a curve or a change/split or whatever.

I see a lot of talk about dillon Howard and yeah, I agree he's a good prospect but araujo isn't much worse (if any). Araujo is a very nice upside pitching prospect and is one of the best stories going on in the Indians system right now.

It's strange, the combination of the dreadul Pomeranz-White trade and the weak years of most our prospects above low A ball has really turned the farm system into being pretty mediocre. All the hope is at lower level A and down for the most part. Kinston and Akron have almost nothing in terms of position players and Columbus is AAAA guys at best.

I fear that White-Pomermanz-Gardner for monkey crap deal will haunt this franchise for a decade. What were those guys thinking? How do you trade the two best pitchers in your system for a guy who looks like he needs a team of proctologists to locate his head? The Tribe better pull out the wallet for next year's draft and international crop, because we are losing ground to teams like the Royals. The notion that we are a year away from contention right now seems absurd, unless the other teams in the division hire the Tribe's guy to make their trades for them.

Troybuildfitess wrote:John Mirabelli drafted both Crowe and Mills. This man may be the most incompetent member of a Cleveland franchise since Ted Stepien. Mirabelli is dumber than a hay rake in evaluating talent. John Hart would have fired him ten years ago but Mark Shapiro gave him a promotion

It should be noted that Mirabelli still runs the entire scouting operation, including the draft. Grant runs it, but ALL decisions go by Mirabelli. Also, Brad Grant was Mirabelli's right hand man during all those "poor" drafts in the early part of he 2000s. And most of the crosscheckers and scouts are the same.

elrod enchilada wrote:It's strange, the combination of the dreadul Pomeranz-White trade and the weak years of most our prospects above low A ball has really turned the farm system into being pretty mediocre. All the hope is at lower level A and down for the most part. Kinston and Akron have almost nothing in terms of position players and Columbus is AAAA guys at best.

I fear that White-Pomermanz-Gardner for monkey crap deal will haunt this franchise for a decade. What were those guys thinking? How do you trade the two best pitchers in your system for a guy who looks like he needs a team of proctologists to locate his head? The Tribe better pull out the wallet for next year's draft and international crop, because we are losing ground to teams like the Royals. The notion that we are a year away from contention right now seems absurd, unless the other teams in the division hire the Tribe's guy to make their trades for them.

Not a troll. I just hate short-sighted idiotic trades involving a team's two best prospects. You will never see me attacking posters or getting on any sort of name-calling. This trade just flat out hurts. I bet Colorado wouldn't trade back Alex White even up for Jimenez, not to mention Pomeranz.

Now I will let it go, because what is done is done. But I needed to vent.

entertheshoe wrote:Is the pitching in Arizona really that bad that Greenwell and Crowe are tearing the cover off the ball, or are they really playing that well?

It's not that the pitching is bad... Just a swirly mix of very young, very RAW guys and unsigned FA filler. Read: relief pitcher type guys. Crowe should excel he is/was a ML player after all and Greenwell has had his moments. But even with taking that in to account, it does look like both of them are in the zone right now.